The Prison that Inmates Built

The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola (model above) has been making the news lately. Just take a look at The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Hartford Courant, The New Yorker and The Washington Times.

New Orleans architects Curtis & Davis developed the branching plan as a modern departure from traditional jail architecture. Angola was the first of their many forays into penal project design, built 1954-56 utilizing pre-stressed and post-tensioned concrete. They cut costs by utilizing lift slab construction and prison labor.

The lift slab technique, developed in Texas, eliminated the need to erect interstitial scaffolding and most form work. Additionally, the institution assigned inmates to assist in erecting housing clusters. Arthur Q. Davis claimed in his recent memoir that a competition between general contractors and inmates demonstrated that the latter were able to install interior partitions and curtain walls 15% faster than their counterparts.(1) The project was completed on schedule and under budget.

Both Davis and his partner Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. promoted the award-winning structure within the context of James Van Benschoten Bennett's penal reforms. (2)  Bennett recommended separating prisoners based on age and custody classifications (maximum, medium, minimum), and sent his administrator Reed Cozard to assist in developing the "New Angola."(2)  It quickly became a progressive model for other correctional, detention and penitentiary structures in the United States and beyond.

Photographs of the expansive complex graced international magazines such as LIFE and L'Architecture d'Aujourd'Hui.

Angola is now the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, with over 5000 inmates. The average sentence is 93 years.(3)

(1)Arthur Q. Davis. It Happened by Design. Jackson:  University of Mississippi Press, 2009, p. 24.

(2)Ibid. Curtis quoted Bennett's Mahatma Gandhi-influenced statement, "To Deprive a Man of His Liberty Is Punishment Enough" in his circa 1979 promotional brochure, Criminal Justice Architecture. He later collaborated with University of South Carolina prison reformer (and security fence inventor) Ellis Campbell MacDougall (1927-2002) to design correctional facilities for Saudi Arabia.

(3)Bill Quigley. "Louisiana Number One in Incarceration." Huffington Post 10 May 2016.

See also:

"Angola." In Karen Kingsley, ed. Buildings of Louisiana. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 427-428.


Images above:  Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Curtis and Davis, architects. Model of Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. 1953. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Curtis and Davis, architects. Construction of Dining Hall/Shared Facilities, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. 1954.  Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

House of Tomorrow (1957)

Fifty-eight years ago, the New Orleans Home Show focused on the theme  "Operation Home Improvement" (OHI). Staged in the Municipal Auditorium, OHI included a model home designed by Curtis & Davis  (shown above).

Walter J. Rooney, Jr. represented the firm in a related article for The Times-Picayune:

"The display house is erected in a landscaped patio enclosed in a woven bamboo fence and providing the ultimate in outdoor living facilities. To one side of the kitchen is a barbecue terrace, on the other side the children's play terrace, both connected to the kitchen by sliding glass walls, between the dining and living room likes the living terrace. All terraces have flagstone floors and are set in a bower of tropical plants.

"The main entrance to the display is by way of a ramp which rises from the auditorium floor on the exterior of the landscaped court. As one climbs the ramp the various elements come into view: The living room unit hovers lightly a few feet above the garden terrace on slim metal supports which rise through the floor slab to a brightly colored plastic roof above--a tremendous skylight."


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"A backward glance at the building makes the structure and construction readily apparent. Light steel columns and beams frame the building and support the flat planes of floor and roof. The steel panels which form the floor and roof are corrugated to achieve maximum strength with a minimum of material and provide an exciting ceiling finish in all the rooms."(1)

(1)"Architect Describes 'Trip' Through Show's House of Tomorrow." The Times-Picayune 18 May 1957.

Images above: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Curtis and Davis, architects. House of Tomorrow, Operation Home Improvement, Home Show, Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, LA. May 1957. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

WTC: Concrete's Poster Child

As Edward D. Stone's International Trade Center and Curtis & Davis' Exhibition Center (Rivergate) neared completion, the Portland Cement Association featured the structures in its Fortune magazine advertisements. Utilizing an illustration by poster artist Bob Peak (1927-92), Portland's copywriters stressed that concrete made good "business sense."

"Concrete gives a world trade center built-in sales appeal. The buildings of New Orleans' new International Trade Center are designed to serve the buyers and sellers of merchandise from every corner of the world. Here, through the imaginative use of concrete, is expressed the very spirit and pace of modern-day trade. In the Convention-Exhibition building, the New Orleans architects used a concrete barrel shell roof to create striking beauty, as well as an interior clear span of 225 feet, sufficient to seat 17,600 people. Textured exterior concrete walls provide tasteful concrete throughout. The highly compressible qualities of New Orleans' soils were mastered by prestressed concrete piles, providing firm foundations for the light but strong reinforced concrete frame and floors designed by advanced new structural criteria. Gleaming exterior curtain wall panels of precast concrete assure visual interest."

Image above: Bob Peak, illustrator for Portland Cement Association. "Concrete Gives a World Trade..." Promotional flyer. [Published in Fortune July 1965].  Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

French Quarter Fisheyes

In April 1973, New Orleans photographer Frank Lotz Miller took these fisheye lens images for architects Curtis & Davis. Both structures are 1960's era French Quarter motor hotel complexes designed by Curtis & Davis in collaboration with preservation architects Richard Koch and Samuel Wilson, Jr. The first to be completed was the Royal Orleans (top image), which opened in 1960. The second was the Royal Sonesta, which opened nine years later (bottom image).

Images above:  Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Royal Orleans. 5 April 1973. Curtis & Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Royal Sonesta. 5 April 1973.  Curtis & Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

1958 Airline Highway

In 1958, New Orleans photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) shot this series of Airline Highway photographs for architects Curtis and Davis, who renovated the London Lodge Motel and Restaurant. The complex's predecessor structures -- a tourist court assemblage -- had been designed by Patrick M. Allison for Chicago owner Ben London in 1952.

Images above:  Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Airline Highway/London Lodge Motel. 1958. Digital image from black and white negative. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Early Curtis & Davis Project

In 1950, New Orleans architects Curtis & Davis received attention from Progressive Architecture for their 1949 rehabilitation of an automobile sales and service establishment. Klein Motors, Incorporated, 832-840 St. Charles Avenue, had been largely destroyed by fire.

The owner demanded the architects reuse the three remaining masonry walls (two sides and rear) and develop a new showroom, offices and service area. The budget was limited, and Curtis & Davis integrated pilaster-supported 100-foot clear span trusses with the salvaged walls. The terracotta-colored enameled aluminum upper portion of the facade emulated a billboard and supported Klein's commercial signage. The biomorphic white tiled canopy, in-sloping showroom curtain wall and strategically placed spotlights were intended to draw attention to the automobiles. When the project was completed, the young partners hired Clarence John Laughlin (1905-1985) to take photographs for the Progressive Architecture feature.

According to Curbed New Orleans, the structure recently sold for $1.63 million and will be used to house The New Orleans Advocate.

UPDATE:  The New Orleans Advocate plans to return the facade to its C & D era form.  Read more on The New Orleans Advocate.

Read more about the C&D rehabilitation in "Automobile Sales and Services Buildings." Progressive Architecture 31 (1950): pp. 75-78.

"Formal Reopening of Firm Set Today." The Times-Picayune (1 April 1949): p. 26.

Image above: Clarence John Laughlin, photographer. Klein Motors, Inc. 832-840 St. Charles Avenue. Circa 1949. Color positive film. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Building Effigies

In  May 1957, the City of New Orleans celebrated a 22-block parade in honor of Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison's building initiatives. At the time of the event, City Hall and the Saratoga building had been completed, the Public Library was under construction, and the old Knights of Pythias temple was being re-sheathed with modernist colored panels.

The parade initiated at Municipal Auditorium and included more than 2000 civic and international participants. Floats adorned with building effigies featured prominently: the Mississippi River Bridge; the Union Passenger Terminal building; City Hall; and oil industry derricks were transported along the designated route through the former Storyville. Some fifteen marching bands punctuated the progress floats. The event culminated with the mayor's dedication and opening of the new City Hall.

New Orleans architect Arthur Q. Davis (1920-2011) served on the City Hall dedication committee, along with preservation leaders Clay Shaw and General L. Kemper Williams.  Betty Finnin directed the creation of the parade floats.

Read more in: "History Making Day Monday." The Times-Picayune New Orleans States (5 May 1957): Section 7, p. 7.

Image above: Leon Trice, photographer for Public Relations Office City Hall, New Orleans. Bird’s Eye View photograph of “Parade of Progress” celebrating Mayor DeLesseps Morrison’s building initiatives, dedication of new City Hall. 6 May 1957. Visual Materials Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Exhibit Highlights Superdome

Tulane University’s Southeastern Architectural Archive has announced a new exhibition:

In celebration of Super Bowl XLVII and in anticipation of the 40th Anniversary of the Louisiana Superdome, this exhibition documents the structure’s early history.  Beginning with a 1966 public referendum to establish a Louisiana Exposition and Stadium District to build a domed stadium in New Orleans, the project rapidly progressed through an exhaustive site selection phase. Governor John McKeithen proclaimed it the best thing to happen to the state since the Louisiana Purchase.

Before the structure was even begun the vox popoli had established it as “the superdome.” By summer 1967, a design team led by Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. was developing conceptual models. He stressed the building’s legacy as a classical amphitheatre envisioned in modern terms, a challenge to both the past and the future. His team developed the space around the spectators, then subjected the designs to computer analysis in order to determine the appropriate structural system. Additional modifications were made due to the city’s high water table and the need for the building to withstand hurricane-force winds. Helicopters delivered final building materials to the dome when cranes could no longer reach.

The resultant stadium sits on a platform twenty-five feet above grade and features a five-thousand ton dome supported by a tension ring comprised of twenty-four prefabricated sections that were welded in place. After eight years of labor, employing over one thousand people, and costing over $163 million, the Louisiana Superdome required “the unrelenting efforts of people who were not afraid to make a dream come true.”


The Dome
17 January 2013  -- 1 November 2013

Image above:

Art Associates, Illustrators.  The Louisiana Stadium. Presentation rendering. Undated. Curtis & Davis Office Records, The Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans "Sports Plant" 1968

In the spring of 1968, Maurice E. "Moon" Landrieu (top image above) was advocating a new stadium for metropolitan New Orleans, quoting then Governor John J. McKeithen's assertion that "the stadium is the greatest thing that's happened to the state since the Louisiana Purchase." Landrieu outlined the project's merits in an article for The New Orleans Realtor:

"A city and state, like any other big business, must continually invest in the future. New Orleans is deeply committed to tourism and recreation, and we are in active competition with other cities for new industries.
Construction of a multi-purpose domed stadium may be bold but not unrealistic. Such a facility is an investment that will mean additional income for everyone in the city and state, and new tax dollars will flow into state government coffers for the benefit of all. Economically, the impact of a huge sports plant such as the domed stadium--with its projected attendance of three to four million people a year--will be one of several new industries locating in Louisiana. After a careful and thorough study of existing facilities, the Gulf South Research Institute estimates that the total amount of benefit to the state will be in excess of $150 million in the first year."

After considering twenty-one sites across Orleans and Jefferson Parish, members of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District Commission selected a fifty-five acre site bordered by the Pontchartrain Expressway, Poydras Street, and Claiborne & Loyola Avenues. New Orleans architect Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. was named project director over a team of architects and engineers that included his firm, Curtis and Davis, as well as Sverdrup and Parcel; Nolan, Norman and Nolan; and Edward B. Silverstein and Associates.

An early design -- shown in the reproduction above -- was configured with a football-shaped massing meant to accommodate more sideline seats than in the Houston Astrodome.

To read more, see:  Maurice E. Landrieu. "The Domed Stadium--Its Impact On New Orleans." The New Orleans Realtor (March 1968): pp. 5-7. Images above from the article, available in the Southeastern Architectural Archive.

1950's Saigon

In the mid-1950s, New Orleans architects Curtis & Davis received a commission to design the new U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. One early conceptual sketch is reproduced above. Affected by heightened political tensions, the project underwent many revisions through the building's completion in 1966. Two years later the embassy building was attacked, and in April 1975, Gerald R. Ford authorized the rooftop evacuation of American personnel. The structure remained standing and was eventually returned to the U.S. government in 1995, but razed in 1998.

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum retains an architectural model of the structure, as well as the rooftop ladder utilized in the evacuation. Tulane University Libraries' Southeastern Architectural Archive houses the Curtis & Davis office records, which include preliminary sketches and photographic documentation.

The firm's design research process incorporated an extensive series of photographs commissioned from the Saigon-based USIA-USOM Photo Laboratory. These images -- taken December 1955 -- document the buildings associated with different foreign missions:  the existing American Norodom compound, as well as the residences of the British and French governmental officials. The series includes structures associated with Shell Oil Company, its "Compagnie Franco Asiatique de Petroles" headquarters (Boulevards Norodom and Luro) and its employees' apartment complex.

Images above:

Top: Curtis & Davis. Saigon Embassy, conceptual sketch. February 1956.

Center: USIA-USOM Photo Laboratory, Saigon, Vietnam. "Shell oil company office building, corner of Blvd. Norodom and Blvd. Luro, Saigon. Constructed in the early 1930s. Photo taken December 1955."

Bottom:  USIA-USOM Photo Laboratory, Saigon, Vietnam. "The front view of the Shell Oil Company's employees' apartments in Saigon. Photo taken December 1955. Building constructed about 1952-1953."

All from Curtis & Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans Architect, Mary Mykolyk

Ismay Mary Mykolyk (1926-1985) was a New Orleans modernist architect. Born a British citizen in East Africa, Mykolyk obtained her architecture degree at the University of Manitoba, Canada in 1949.

In the 1950s, she began working for Curtis & Davis & Associated Architects & Engineers. She served as chief architect on the firm's Tulane University Student Center, the Guste Housing Project, the Algiers Louisiana Power & Light Building, & the US Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam.

By 1965, Mykolyk established her own firm, collaborating with other New Orleans modernists on such projects as Loyola University's Law School and Science Complex, as well as independently designing private residences, including the Bert Levey Residence on the Tchefuncta River.

To learn more, see the Beverly Willis Dynamic National Archive or read "Ismay Mary Mykolyk dies; crafted New Orleans architecture." The Times-Picayune 20 September 1985, A-26.

Image above: Frank Lotz Miller. Mary Mykolyk. [Detail of photographer's proof]. 1961. © Curtis & Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Tulane's Lost Owls

Tulane University's Joseph Merrick Jones Hall, located at 6801 Freret Street, was designed by Moise Goldstein & Associates, Architects (1939-1941). Tulane School of Architecture faculty member Nathaniel C. Curtis, Sr. (1881-1953) was chief designer at the time, and created the building's dedicatory inscription and accompanying intaglio sculpture.

The structure was originally the institutional library, drawing together the combined holdings of Newcomb College and Tulane University, and named Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. Its Freret Street entranceway features carvings of historic printers' devices, including those of Plantin-Moretus and Aldus Manutius.

Moise Goldstein hired a young Nathaniel C. "Buster" Curtis, Jr. (1917-1997) to design two owls -- symbols of wisdom and knowledge -- for placement atop the entrance facade's granite obelisks. Buster drew full-sized sketches of his stylized owls, his "own idea of what an owl should look like," and the sketches were sent to Indiana, where the stone was cut.

When Buster's owls arrived in New Orleans, they were positioned atop the entrance obelisks and Mr. Goldstein escorted Tulane University President Harris to see them. Buster Curtis later recounted:

"No one was prepared for the violent disapproval and disappointment of the good doctor over those owls and Mr. Goldstein's distress cannot be expressed. That very night he arranged for a pickup truck into which the owls were loaded and just he and I, in utmost secrecy, buried those birds in the darkness of the early morning in the back of Audubon Park. I think Mr. Goldstein paid for the owls out of his own pocket because nothing was ever said again about them -- either by him or Dr. Harris or by me, but the granite obelisks are still there."

Curtis added, "It has been said that a doctor buries his mistakes and an architect just plants ivy. But is is not always that easy. . . "

Quoted matter from: Nathaniel C. Curtis, Jr. Undated typescript. c. late 1960s. Biographical Files, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Central City 1964

In 1964, New Orleans photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) took aerial views of the newly constructed Guste Housing Project, designed by Curtis & Davis (altered 2002-2005). Miller's negative captured a broad expanse of Central City beyond to the Mississippi River and the West Bank.

Image: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Guste Housing Project, 1964. © Curtis & Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Do not reproduce without written permission.

Lost New Orleans (23 December 1952)

In 1952, the New Orleans firm of Curtis & Davis was commissioned to design an L-shaped parking garage in the square bounded by Canal, Common, S. Rampart Streets & University Place. The architects hired professional photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) to document the surrounding properties.

The Metro Hotel was located at 1021 Common Street, Yank's Cocktail Lounge was at 1017, and Gonzales Tailors was at 1015. Kay's Shoes was located at 136 S. Rampart Street. The Common Street structures remained standing through the 1960s & 1970s, but the Rampart Street store was razed sometime before 1978.

Eglin's Parking Garage was built in 1953, a six-deck steel-framed structure with an 800-car capacity.

Images above: Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Buildings on Common & Rampart. 23 December 1952. photographic negatives. © Curtis and Davis Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Firon & Oil

In the late 1950s, the New Orleans-based Industrial Electric, Incorporated was the local dealer of a porcelain enamel product called Firon. Utilizing a base of 16-18 gauge vitreous enameling steel coated with acid-resistant enamel frits and oxides, Firon boasted durability, weather resistance, and easy maintenance. Its popularity was in part due to an increasing demand for color in modern buildings, and it came in a wide array of colors, with varied textures and finishes.

Curtis and Davis utilized stippled cream, blue-gray and blue semi-matte Firon for their Pan-American Motor Hotel (1957), August Perez, Jr. incorporated Blue No. 53 Firon for his Blue Plate Foods Plant (1941), and Katz & Besthoff commissioned a purple color theme for one of its drug store/soda fountains. Firon proved quite popular amongst oil companies; American, Esso, Gulf, Phillips, Shell, Standard and Texaco all used the architectural porcelain.

Images above: Industrial Electric, Inc. Brochures, Box 60, Freret & Wolf Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Reconciling the Old & New Orleans

As reported by Harry V. Forgeron for the New York Times 18 February 1968:

"When the tourists come marching in for Mardi Gras this month, they will see a city that has jazzed up its 250th anniversary year with gleaming new buildings and meticulous restorations of its old French Quarter.

The melding of new and old would seem incongruous, but each type of architecture has its place and need in an expanding port city on the Mississippi that is rich in historical background.

In the downtown area, the sweeping, airy lines of the $13.5 million Rivergate exhibition facility nearing completion bear the unmistakable stamp of Curtis & Davis, architects who are spokesmen for modernity in the Crescent City.

But not far away at 1132 Rue Royal in the Vieux Carre (old square), is the home of Richard W. Freeman, Jr., secretary of the Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Its wrought-iron "lace," tall black columns and classic white door frame speak just as eloquently for the restoration work of Koch & Wilson.

The 33-story International Trade Mart, designed by Edward Durell Stone, stands at the foot of Canal Street. Its president, Lloyd J. Cobb, a lawyer and breeder of Angus cattle and race horses, will happily admit that the building is 99 per cent occupied."

To read more of this article, consult the New York Times (1851-2005), the electronic database available through Tulane University Libraries.

New Orleans School Design 1958-59

Curtis and Davis, firm. Preliminary sketch for mural partition, George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School, 3019 Edna Street, 1959. © Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Do not reproduce without written permission.

Curtis and Davis, firm. Preliminary sketch for elevation, George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School, 3019 Edna Street, 1958. © Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Do not reproduce without written permission.

New Orleans 1964

In 1964, the New Orleans firm of Curtis & Davis was commissioned to design additions to its large combined Junior-Senior High School, George Washington Carver (1957-58). Located at 3019 Edna Street, the structure had been featured in Samuel Wilson, Jr.'s important A Guide to Architecture of New Orleans 1699-1959, published by the Louisiana Landmarks Society in 1960. Above is the cover sheet sketch for the firm's set of drawings related to the proposed additions.

Arthur Q. Davis recently wrote about the project in his book, It Happened by Design:

"One of the largest educational institutions designed by our firm was the George Washington Carver Elementary, Junior, and Senior High School. The Orleans Parish School Board commissioned us to design a senior high school on a large tract of land of approximately fifty acres. A portion of the site was to be set aside for a junior high which would later be designed by another architect, and perhaps later another portion of the site would be spun off of for an elementary school. We advised the school board that we did not believe that this was the most practical or expeditious way to use the site. If the junior and senior highs could be combined, they could share kitchen and cafeteria facilities and have one first-class auditorium instead of two smaller, less useful ones. A small auditorium could not provide a stage loft and the backstage area needed for a first-class high school auditorium--one which could also be available to the community for evening productions. The same would apply to the gymnasiums. We could build a much larger and much more efficient gymnasium if it were to serve the two schools." (pp. 17-18).

Indeed, the Carver auditoriums as designed could serve a variety of functions. The large auditorium was designed to seat 1,478 (main floor capacity 1,046; balcony 432); the small auditorium could accommodate an audience of 493. If you want to read more about C & D school projects, check out Arthur Q. Davis's It Happened by Design (University Press of Mississippi, 2009), available in multiple Tulane University Libraries.

The Recovery School District plans to demolish the building.

Image above: Curtis and Davis, firm. Detail of cover sheet sketch, proposed additions to George Washington Carver Junior-Senior High School, 3019 Edna Street, 1964. © Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Do not reproduce without written permission.

Public Meeting: Fate of Curtis & Davis School

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced a public meeting scheduled for Wednesday 23 September from 6:00-8:30 pm at C.J. Peete Community Center (2514 Washington Street) to discuss the proposed demolition and replacement of Curtis and Davis's Thomy Lafon Elementary School.

FEMA is requesting that participants be prepared to speak out either in support of preservation or demolition. Parties supporting preservation should be able to present a related proposal; parties supporting demolition should present a proposal for the school's commemoration.

To read more about Thomy Lafon (1810-1893), consult the following resources available through Tulane University Libraries:

Joseph, James A. "Thomy Lafon: Black Aristocracy and Benevolent Wealth," chapter in Remaking America: How the Benevolent Traditions of Many Cultures are Transforming our National Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.

Rankin, David C. "The Origins of Black Leadership in New Orleans during Reconstruction." The Journal of Southern History 40:3 (Aug 1974): 417-440 & other articles available through JSTOR.

To read more about Curtis and Davis's architecture, see:

Curtis, Nathaniel. Nathaniel Curtis, FAIA: My Life in Modern Architecture. New Orleans: University of New Orleans, 2002.

Davis, Arthur. It Happened by Design: The Life and Work of Arthur Q. Davis. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2009.

"School on Stilts." Architectural Forum 101 (November 1954): 148-151.

Image above: Detail from presentation board: Thomy Lafon School: Small Site in a Congested Neighborhood.Curtis & Davis Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Tulane University Libraries.

The Future of the Superdome

The New Orleans Bureau for Government Research (BGR) is sponsoring a Breakfast Briefing this coming Friday, 26 June 2009, devoted to the topic: "The Future of the Superdome Complex." The presentation will take place at 8:00 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, located at 921 Canal Street. Those interested in attending should RSVP today. Click here for more information.

Image above: Cover Illustration from New Orleans as Seen on Tour (Harvey Press, 1975), Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Original gouache painting is housed in the Curtis & Davis Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.